Merremia tridentata (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Merremia tridentata (L.) Hallier f. subsp. hastata (Desr.) Ooststr.

Protologue: Blumea 3: 317, f. 2 (1939).

Family: Convolvulaceae

Synonyms

• Merremia hastata Hallier f. (1893).

Vernacular names

• Indonesia: irit-iritan, rangitan (Javanese), jala ma tubu (Ternate)
• Malaysia: akar keremak, karok relia, pungulang (Peninsular)
• Philippines: maragta, talanuk (Tagalog), karadkad (Igorot)
• Thailand: thao tot maa (south-western).

Distribution

From tropical Africa to tropical Asia, India, and Sri Lanka, eastwards to China, and southwards throughout Malesia, and northern Australia.

Uses

In Indo-China, all parts are considered purgative. The roasted seeds are anthelminthic, diuretic and antibilious. In Peninsular Malaysia, a poultice of the leaves is applied to the head for fever, and on snakebites. In the Philippines and India, a decoction of the roots is used as a mouthwash for toothache. M. tridentata is bitter, astringent and tonic. In northern Nigeria, a decoction of the whole plant of M. tridentata, together with natron, is taken for gonorrhoea.

Observations

• An annual twiner, occasionally prostrate, 0.6-2 m long, stems slender, glabrous, root stout.
• Leaves linear-oblong to narrowly linear, 2.5-10 cm × 0.5-2 cm, more or less contracted above the base, lobes more or less stem-clasping, basal lobes dentate, apex attenuate, acute to obtuse, mucronulate, margin entire or slightly undulate, petiole 1-3 mm long.
• Flowers in 1-few-flowered cymes, peduncle 1-8 cm long, bracts minute.
• Flower-buds narrowly conical, acute, pedicel 6-8 mm long, in fruit clavate, up to 15 mm long, tips of sepals curved outwards, sepals subequal, 6-7 mm long, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, corolla funnel-shaped, 12-20 mm long, pale yellow or white, centre purple or dark brown, filaments sparsely hairy at base.
• Capsule globose to ovoid, pericarp papery, glabrous.
• Seeds 2.5-3 mm long, dull black, glabrous.

'M. tridentata subsp. hastata occurs on rather light soil, in open grasslands, waste places, teak forests, and along roadsides, from sea-level up to 1200 m altitude. Subsp. tridentata differs from subsp. hastata in that the outer sepals are mostly obtuse to emarginate, the corolla is 10-12 mm long, the filaments are inserted about 1.5 mm from the base, and the apex of the leaves is obtuse, truncate or emarginate.

Selected sources

• [134] Burkill, H.M., 1985—2000. The useful plants of West tropical Africa. 2nd Edition. 5 volumes. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom. Vol. 1 (1985), Families A—D, 960 pp.; Vol. 2 (1994), Families E—I, 636 pp.; Vol. 3 (1995), Families J—L, 857 pp.; Vol. 4 (1997), Families M—R, 969 pp; Vol. 5 (2000), Families S—Z, 686 pp.
• [215] Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, 1948—1976. The wealth of India: a dictionary of Indian raw materials & industrial products. 11 volumes. Publications and Information Directorate, New Delhi, India.
• [568] Krishnappan, A.L. & Seetharaman, T.R., 1992. Flavonoids of Merremia tridentata. Fitoterapia 63(2): 190.
• [786] Perry, L.M., 1980. Medicinal plants of East and Southeast Asia. Attributed properties and uses. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States & London, United Kingdom. 620 pp.

Main genus page

• Merremia

Authors

• Muhammad Mansur